It's Just the Way Things Are
by YomiNoNozomi
Summary: During an espionage mission in Lightning Country, Sakura has to have very loud, very convincing fake sex with Genma in order to maintain her cover. Shiranui won't stop talking about it and Kakashi is about ten seconds away from raikiri-ing everyone in the near vicinity.
1. Roles

With the ANBU squad nearly assembled and ready to go, Kakashi felt the familiar tingle of nerves at the base of his spine. It was just a simple espionage mission near Kumo, some crime syndicate had been stirring up trouble a little too far within Lightning Country's borders for comfort, but there was something about the weight of the ANBU chest plate against his sternum that brought up old feelings he'd long left behind. It'd been years since he'd last been sent on a mission as a Black Ops member, and even longer since he'd been on one under someone else's command, but the war was still taking its toll on the number of healthy available shinobi and Tsunade had few other options.

Not that he particularly minded, with someone else functioning as the team's captain Kakashi would have ample opportunity to sit back and enjoy his favorite past-time. The other two ANBU members that made up his team were roughhousing somewhere to his left, rolling around in the dirt and loudly shouting curses and threats. One would expect a certain level of subtlety from Konoha's best assassins, but considering the black ops with his face smashed into the ground was Shiranui, Kakashi couldn't muster the energy to feign surprise. While certainly nowhere near Naruto's level of rowdiness, his long time friend certainly wasn't a master of the art of delicacy.

Said man gave a triumphant whoop as he flipped the other ANBU member over and rolled him into an arm bar. An incredibly mussed Kotetsu huffed and tapped a submission into the calf Genma had wrapped around his shoulder socket, reclaiming his arm with a wince.

Genma wasted no time in skipping over, throwing an arm around the taller man's shoulders, grinning like a mad man.

"So? What do you think?"

Kakashi contemplated the likelihood of convincing Genma that he'd suddenly gone deaf so he could read in peace.

"Think of what?" Kakashi drawled, making a show of meticulously dog-earing his page and turning to face his comrade. Genma just rolled his eyes like he knew Kakashi knew the answer was obvious.

"Our captain, lazy ass."

Kakashi raised his visible brow and ignored the slight.

"I can't imagine I'd be able to form any opinions on him at the moment, considering I haven't met him yet," he said in a bored tone, fingers reverently tracing the outline of Icha Icha in his pants pocket.

Genma's face screwed into a cross between confusion and mirth, and Kotetsu outright scoffed from behind him.

"Tsunade didn't tell you who it was in the mission briefing?" He asked, tone two pitches higher in incredulity.

Ah, the mission briefing. That had been this morning, hadn't it? He'd meant to make his way to the Hokage's tower after training this morning, but then he'd run into Yamato and couldn't pass up the opportunity to skeeze breakfast off the innocent wood user, and then there had been an unfortunate incident with some yogurt and his jounin pants and he'd been forced to return home to change just as the check arrived. Once in the refuge of his apartment, Icha Icha had dug its irresistible claws into him and he was lost to the world for the better part of the afternoon.

Only when it turned early evening, the sun was finishing its pitch behind the mountainous walls that surrounded the village and a cool breeze kicked up dirt along the well worn path out of the village, had the jounin realized he had a mission to leave for sometime relatively soon.

It only just occurred to him, while possible his lack of knowledge pertaining to their exact scheduled meeting time could be to blame, he was nevertheless in fact _early_. They'd been waiting for nearly ten minutes now.

Kakashi crinkled his eye and gave a half-hearted shrug.

"I must have missed it," he said. His partners simultaneously rolled their eyes.

Genma opened his mouth to no doubt rib Kakashi on his habit of perpetual lateness, but was interrupted by a cheerful voice from somewhere behind the silver haired man.

"Maa, are you lost, Jiji-san? Do you need me to escort you home?"

If he hadn't spent the past decade or so of his life listening to that particular voice, Genma and Kotetsu's wolfish grins would have given away his new team captain's identity anyway.

"Is that a proposition, Sakura-chan?" He asked with an air of innocence, placing his hand over his heart in feigned surprise.

The pinkette rolled her eyes, as people seemed to be doing around him frequently tonight, and shot him a grin that would have made a lesser man (Genma) tremble.

"You wish," she teased, fluidly tossing their masks to each of them. Kakashi caught his with ease, and took a moment to really study his former student under the guise of surprise at her appearance. The flexible cotton of the standard ANBU bodysuit fit her well, complimenting the paleness of her skin and stretching over the visible tone of her muscles. Two short swords crossed each other on her shoulder blades, hooked to the back of her chest armor and peeking over her slender shoulders. With the pale bone and sharp red of her panther mask resting against her cheek bone, she looked more like an ANBU captain than he thought someone he had watched grow from a preteen had any right to.

"You shouldn't say such things to old men, you know. They might mistake your meaning for something else," he admonished, the picture of innocence.

"Pervert," Kotetsu muttered into his scroll.

"Louse," Genma coughed into his hand.

Sakura paused in her fastening of her mask to shoot them all an amused if not slightly exasperated look.

"Right," she said, slipping back into the professional no-nonsense side of herself he had come to associate with either unpleasant post-mission stays at the hospital or Naruto's pitiful moans. "Have you guys all read the mission materials?"

The traitorous half of his team nodded dutifully from behind him like well behaved children answering to their mother. When their captain saw that there was one member of her team suspiciously still, she raised a brow and leveled him with an expectant look. Great, now his former student turned direct superior was going to think he really was an incompetent old man.

He rubbed at the back of his neck in sheepish gesture, feeling equally stupid for both not going to a debriefing for an espionage mission of all things, and for having to actually admit that to someone thirteen years his junior and a former student.

"Well, you see, I was helping poor Yamato open his yogurt," he started, only to be cut off when his favorite student impatiently raised her hand and shooed away his excuses.

"We don't have time," she said simply, tossing him a scroll from the pouch wrapped around her thigh. "Read while we travel."

Genma couldn't have pulled a more smug expression if he tried, scooping up his pack and prancing after Sakura's retreating back. Kakashi hefted his own pack over his shoulder and bit back a long sigh. He was definitely not feeling embarrassed by his former student's snuff, and he even more certainly could not feel his cheeks warming underneath his mask.

The group devolved into silence as they took to the trees, the whistling sound of wind and passing trees taking over. Kakashi unraveled the scroll and resigned himself to catching up on all the information he should have memorized earlier that morning, hopping from branch to branch with a mechanical grace and sneaking furtive glances at his former student's back when he was sure neither of his teammates were looking.

* * *

 _1\. Heyoo._

 _2\. So, this story has been in my head forever and I only recently felt confident enough in my writing to actually attempt it. It will be multichapter, but not super long._

 _3\. Please be sure to review if you'd like me to assign more priority into updating this._

 _4\. Hachi will be updated soon, don't worry._


	2. Orders

The syndicate, as it turned out, while not particularly large or wide spread in their control of territory, made up for the lack of manpower with sheer ingenuity. Their so called base, a small compound tucked into the tall mountains that were so characteristic of Kumo, was nothing more than an unassuming old geisha house. And while it hadn't taken them more than a few days of searching to stumble upon it, even the rocky paths leading up to it were far from accessible, or as Genma had cheerfully put it, "they're trapped out the ass."

After another day or two of surveilling the land and coming back with nothing but disgust at the appalling amount of women the group had managed to kidnap and force into prostitution in a matter of days, and maybe a small amount of respect for how flawlessly they ran their operation, Sakura came to a decision.

"I'm going to get myself kidnapped."

"I'm sorry, what?" Kakashi questioned, wiggling his pinky finger around in his ear canal in case there was a blockage there that could be making it sound like his delightful former student was saying asinine things.

Her ANBU mask didn't give away much in the way of expressions, but he had known her long enough to catch a side-eye when she threw him one.

"They're kidnapping young innocent girls, I'm a young innocent girl-"

She pointedly ignored the raised eyebrows that got.

"-I can just get the information we need and then sneak out. Easy peasy."

"Easy peasy?" Kakashi parroted incredulously. Had she been watching a different compound these past few days? There was no way she was talking about the miscreant infested, heavily guarded, seedy fortress just over yonder hill, right?

Kotetsu cut in before he could voice such concerns.

"There's no way you can go in there. How would we get to you if something happens? How would we even know?"

Their fearless leader popped a hip and gave them all a defiant look, but Kakashi crossed his arms in a stance he'd used often when he'd caught her trying to quietly strangle Naruto in their genin days (and chunin days, and jounin days...). Captain or not, he was not so careless as to let one of his loved ones go gallivanting alone into a compound full of dangerous criminals who happened to have a taste for pretty little women like her. Not that he thought she was pretty. Well, she was pretty, but that didn't have anything to do with him. She was pretty regardless of his opinion, it was just a matter of fact.

"Then what do you suggest?" She asked, trying (and failing) not to let her impatience nip at the back of her words.

"One of us should come with you," Genma said matter-of-factly and Kotetsu nodded vigorously alongside him. Kakashi remained silent with his arms crossed because, well, now he'd kind of committed to it.

"I hate to break this to you Shiranui, but you're not exactly the epitome of beauty and feminine grace," Sakura mused, giving a pointed look at how pitifully the ANBU bodysuit hid his broad shoulders and well-muscled torso. "There's no way you'll pass for a woman."

"Whatever do you mean?" The jounin squeaked in a sharp falsetto, crossing his arms over his chest in mock insecurity. Kakashi and Kotetsu shared a pained look.

"We'll just say that you're our property and we're looking to sell," Kakashi supplied, feeling a little bit icky at saying it aloud.

Sakura wrinkled her nose in apparent distaste but seemed unable to come up with any kind of solid counter argument.

"So who gets to go?" questioned Kotetsu, looking like an over eager child.

"Well, Kakashi can't come for obvious reasons, and Kotetsu's giant ass sword-thing is way too noticeable," Genma gave an award-worthy grin, senbon bobbing, "so that just leaves lil' old me."

"Obvious?" Kakashi echoed.

"Sword-thing?" Kotetsu croaked.

Sakura studied the three of them with a critical eye, hands resting on her hips in her best I'm-your-captain-and-I'm-the-boss-of-you pose.

"Fine," she said at length. "We'll set it up in the morning."

Kakashi watched with a rising amount of dread as Genma chirped a "Yes, captain!" and proceeded to practically cartwheel back to camp with far more enthusiasm than appropriate for someone just assigned a dangerous infiltration mission.

* * *

"No."

Sakura arched an incredulous brow.

"Excuse me?"

"No," Kakashi repeated, scowling down at her from his full height, not that she could really tell with his mask in place.

"No what?" She ground out, scowling right back up at him.

"You're not wearing that," he said, with a vague motion toward her attire.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that you were the captain of this squad."

Kakashi crossed his arms.

"You're trying to get yourself bought, not laid."

"Yeah, bought by sex slavers!" Sakura nearly shrieked.

"No."

"Kakashi."

" _No_."

" _Kakashi_."

Genma not-so-subtly cleared his throat from his spot as lookout.

"I'm not letting you go out there in that."

"Oh you're not _letting_ me, huh?" Sakura huffed, "Well how about this, I order you to stop talking about it."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes.

"That's abuse of power."

"Then take it up with the Hokage," she hissed, poking him in the chest with a slim finger.

"Guys?" Genma tried again.

Kakashi wrapped his fingers around her wrist and jerked her toward him until he could see the witch fire in her eyes.

"You're being ridiculous, _Captain_ ," he growled, hackles rising.

Sakura leaned closer until the hollow bone of their masks clicked together, fury evident on her face.

"Bite me, _Kouhai_."

"Guys! They're coming," Genma barked.

"Targets are approaching from the East, three wagons, unknown number of passengers," Kotetsu piped up, eyeing Kakashi from around his binoculars.

"Got it. Everyone get in position," the pinkette ordered, giving him one last scowl before stomping past him down the hill with Genma in tow.

Kakashi snatched the binoculars from Kotetsu as the caravan drew to a sluggish halt in front of Shiranui and Sakura's waiting forms. As far as infiltration plans went, this one seemed more than a little hair-brained, but with the amount of girls the crime organization had been bringing in on a daily basis Sakura had decided it'd be best to act fast.

Her kimono was also about six inches too short, in his solely professional opinion.

The two remaining team members crouched low in the brush and watched as a steady stream of men trickled out of the wagons, oozing out onto the rocky road and surrounding his fellow Black Ops agents. He wasn't exactly familiar with Kumo etiquettacy, but Kakashi was fairly sure the way one particularly large man had the tip of his sword pressed against Genma's jugular wasn't some convoluted manner of friendly greeting. Another grabbed Sakura by the arm and dragged her into him, nearly pitching her forward into the gravel, and said something that produced a wave of laughter from the other criminals.

Just as Kakashi was preparing to haul ass down the hillside and kick some well deserved teeth in, Kotetsu ripped him back by the collar of his bodysuit and motioned to the caravan. The greasiest, fattest man Kakashi had ever had the displeasure of laying eyes on squirmed his way out of the middle wagon and waddled over to the crowd. Judging by the way the miscreants parted like fish dodging an incredibly conspicuous shark, one could guess that the man held some kind of authority.

Butterball-san, as Kakashi was now going to refer to him, took one look at Sakura and grinned, wrapping his slimy arm around her slender shoulders.

Just peachy.

"So, wanna talk about what that was about?"

Kakashi barely spared a glance Kotetsu's way, scowl still in place.

"What what was about?"

There was a few moments of conversation between Genma and Butterball-san, during which the grotesquely fat man took to stroking Sakura's hair. Kakashi's blood boiled.

"You know, how you just freaked out like two minutes ago because Sakura's dress was a little short?" Kotetsu asked with an air of forced casualty.

Kakashi gave an indignant sniff. He'd hardly freaked out. The kimono she was wearing barely coasted the bottom of her rear end, leaving her long, toned legs out for everyone to ogle. The plunging neckline had been no better, either. Genma's leering was bad enough, but she was heading into a smuggler's den full of men who would happily pay a fortune just to see her touch her toes. It wasn't unreasonable to be concerned about the safety of his former student.

Even if that former student was now a grown woman and ANBU captain, completely capable of protecting herself and making her own decisions.

Okay, maybe he had freaked out a little bit.

"No, I would not like to talk about it," Kakashi grumbled.

Kotetsu looked like he was going to speak, but thought better of it, and some sort of decision was made between Butterball-san and his partners.

Genma flashed the signal quickly behind his back, and Kakashi and Kotetsu advanced forward after the caravan into the mountains.

* * *

1\. Thank you guys so much for all of the reviews, they were really sweet.

2\. I'm a bit worried this chapter isn't as good as the first, as well as that the romance/sexual tension between Kakashi and Sakura is too subtle.

3\. Only maybe one or two more chapters after this, and then we'll be done. The shenanigans promised in the story description and some feely feels will be in the next chapter.

4\. Some things you probably already knew: Kouhai is a Japanese term used to address someone that is younger than you or in a lower class. Mostly it's used in schools, like a senior would call junior Kouhai, but I figured it fit well enough to consider Captain a class above a normal ANBU operative. Not that Sakura actually considers herself a higher class than Kakashi, she's just saying it to get on his nerves.

5\. Butterball is an American brand of particularly fat whole turkeys that are bought for Thanksgiving dinners. I probably think I'm funnier than I am.

6\. Make sure to review if you're still enjoying this, or to let me know if you're not.


	3. Reveals

They'd been in radio silence for hours, and even though he knew full well that Sakura was more than capable of taking care of both herself and Genma, a nervous itch had settled underneath his skin. Hadn't they scheduled to check in by sundown? There hadn't been any commotion inside the rooms from what he could tell, but there was only so much they could pick up from their vantage point hidden within the sparse trees on the border of the compound.

Kakashi hadn't even taken out his book, a true testament to his uncharacteristic nerves, for fear that if he were to take his attention off the screen doors for even a second something would go horribly wrong. It'd taken days longer than they first anticipated to pull the information they needed from lower level underlings throughout the compound, and in the end they'd only been saved by the sudden arrival of a party with enough liquor to loosen otherwise tight lips. There was still music thrumming from deeper within the compound, and the echoes of men roaring with laughter, but no sign of Sakura or Genma.

Kotetsu shifted anxiously from his right, fiddling with the nobs on his radio for the umpteenth time and squinting into the lights that shone through the thin material of the outside sliding doors. Just as Kakashi opened his mouth to demand they go in and investigate, two shadows appeared behind the rice paper.

"Inu? Tora?"

Kotetsu nearly dropped the radio in his haste to answer.

"Here, we're here."

"We've got what we need. Can you be ready for an extraction tomorrow?"

"Roger. Just give us a time," Kotetsu mumbled into his mouth piece.

"Sunrise should be fine. We'll rendezvous at the west side of the compound."

"Got it," Kotetsu said.

There was some crackling and for a small second Kakashi's stomach pitched at the thought of losing communication with his former student (Genma was there, too, he supposed) but then her distorted voice came back over the airwaves.

"Ahh, Tori-san. It's nice to see you again."

Kotetsu's face screwed in confusion.

"Tori-san?" He repeated.

There was some more garbled conversation, in which Genma's far off voice and a third could be heard, and a large, round shadow stepped into view. Kakashi's heart jumped into his throat. Had they been compromised?

Sakura's voice returned through the radio, clearer than the others, but the snippets of conversation they caught didn't add up.

"You want a preview?" She asked, voice high and incredulous.

"Surely you can wait for one more day? You'll have possession of her tomorrow," said Genma.

The third unfamiliar voice scratched unpleasantly in Kakashi's ear piece but still came out as little more than static.

"No," Sakura mumbled, sounding uncharacteristically embarrassed, "I suppose not."

Kakashi and Kotetsu exchanged raised eyebrows as the two smaller shadows made their way into the middle of the room and laid down on what they could only assume was the bed. The third shadow shifted in the doorway but didn't advance further.

There was a beat of silence in which Kakashi was pretty sure he could hear Kotetsu's pulse all the way from the other tree.

And then the noises started.

Soft at first, and then growing in volume as the creaking of the bed springs filtered in through their headsets.

There was no way that was what he thought it was, right? Surely, there was no way.

"Is that…?" Kotetsu whispered, eyes wide.

"Genma," came Sakura's breathy voice, "don't stop!"

The look Kakashi gave the small receiver in his hand was nothing short of absolute horror, and Kotetsu was turning red around the edges.

"Oh my God," Sakura moaned.

"Oh my God," Kotetsu shrieked.

"Oh my God," Kakashi wheezed.

The other man quickly ripped the device out of his ear, but Kakashi was frozen, listening to the lilting, pleasured sounds coming from his captain. They increased in volume and became almost desperate, little whines and mewls followed by long sultry moans.

Kotetsu gaped as a piercing sound of pleasure resounded from their receivers, Sakura's sweet voice calling out Genma's name, and then a heavy silence settled over them.

Kakashi could hear his pulse in his ears and feel it jumping against the skin of his neck. His imagination was running wild, but his mind was a mess. Had they really just done _that_? A horrid feeling he couldn't put a name to hooked its claws into his lungs and shredded its way down into his stomach. There was no way Sakura would let Genma touch her in that way, right?

When he forced his pulse to slow and his heart to settle, it became clear to Kakashi that something must have happened. It was obvious that they'd had no choice, given the unknown man's sudden appearance and the snippets of conversation he'd picked up from Sakura. But had they really been forced to sleep together? It had certainly sounded convincing from Sakura's end.

It occurred to him, in some part of his mind wrapped in layers and layers of denial, that the feeling was jealousy.

Genma chuckled, sounding a little out of breath.

"Round two?"

"Oh hell no," Kakashi snarled.

"Kakashi!" Kotetsu called, scrambling down the tree after him, but the other man had already vaulted over the compound's outer wall and barreled through the paper doors.

There was an awkward pause after Kakashi bashed the door down in which he hovered in the doorway, unsure of who to strangle first.

"Kakashi!" Genma squawked from his position on top of a very naked Sakura, scrambling to wrap the sheets around his hips as Kakashi slowly advanced on him.

"You," Kakashi growled.

"It's not what it looks like!" Genma sputtered, holding up his hands in surrender only to have the sheets plummet to his feet.

"No, but it's sure as fuck what it sounded like!"

Genma let out a strangled squeak as Kakashi lunged for him, lamps toppling over and furniture flying.

"Boys!" Sakura barked, simultaneously trying to keep the covers against her chest and unwrap Kakashi's hands from Genma's throat.

"Who the hell are you people?" A voice hollered from somewhere to his left, and everyone swiveled to face a furious Butterball-san.

Kakashi took one look at the fat man, jowls jiggling and face flushed in rage with his hands holding up his pants by the belt loops, and came to a decision.

"We're leaving," he said simply, grabbing Sakura's wrist and dragging her into his side, sheets and all.

"What?" Sakura and Genma squawked simultaneously.

Kotetsu stumbled in just as Butterball-san began yelling for guards, only to see Genma tripping into his pants and Kakashi stalk past him with a blushing Sakura in tow.

* * *

1\. Wooo, one more chapter after this and then we're done. I've already got it mostly written, and most of the feely feels will be there.

2\. This chapter felt like it was walking a weird line between funny and angsty and I'm not sure I like it.

3\. Some things you probably already knew: Butterball-san's actual name is Taki, which means bird. Because turkeys.

4\. Inu means dog, which is Kakashi's ANBU codename for obvious reasons. Tora means tiger, because I feel like Kotetsu looks kind of tiger-y.

5\. Please be sure to review, and feel free to leave suggestions on what you'd like to see me write next.


	4. Resolutions

"Kakashi."

The man let out a grunt and continued to stomp through the forest, frightening small animals and Genma alike.

" _Kakashi_."

"What?" He hissed, turning down to glare at the small weight in his arms.

"You can put me down now."

Ah, he was still holding her. Somewhere between dragging her out of the compound (and Genma's arms) and his blazing path of fury through the terrain of Kumo, he'd forgotten to actually let go of his former student.

Said woman was perched in his arms, clutching to his bicep like a small, furious marmoset and glaring right back up at him.

"Ah," he said by way of agreement, making no move to remedy the fact.

"Kakashi," she scowled, and he marveled at the way she could convey such anger just by saying his name.

"Yes?" He asked, keeping his tone light.

"Put me down."

Kakashi kept his gaze resolutely ahead.

"I can't."

She raised a single brow in the way he knew meant he was a hair's breadth away from the pointy end of her temper.

"And why not?"

He creased his visible eye in a smile down at her.

"Well, the last time I let you out of my sight I found you six inches deep in Genma."

He ignored the rage slowly beginning to register on her face and gave a soft noise of contemplation.

"Or was it the other way around?"

"Kakashi," she said in a low, threatening voice.

"Hm?" He hummed.

"I order you to put me down, now."

Kakashi scoffed quietly, leaning down close enough to brush her nose against his.

"Or what, captain?"

The pinkette visibly gnashed her teeth and did the only thing that seemed logical to her at the time- mercilessly slap her palms against his chest.

"Put me _down_!" She shrieked.

"Fuck, alright, alright!" Kakashi cursed and stumbled, quickly setting her down a safe distance away on the nearest branch.

Sakura huffed and made a show of straightening her (still ridiculously short) attire.

"What the hell's the matter with you?" She demanded.

Kakashi stuffed his hands into the safety of his pockets lest they get any ideas about snatching up his former student again and put on an air of innocence.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You have no idea?" She gaped, neck flushing an attractive shade of red in her fury.

Sensing trouble but knowing he was too far gone to back out now, he gave a half-hearted shrug.

"Perhaps I was being a little over protective."

"Over protective? _Over protective_?" She shrieked, voice bordering on hysterical. "You barged into a compound full of dangerous criminals, dragged me halfway through Kumo, and fucked up our entire mission just because I had fake sex with Genma!"

Kakashi opened his mouth to protest but the ANBU captain stomped forward and poked a menacing finger into his chest before he could get a word out.

"You've disrespected my authority and undermined my decisions this entire mission! Now I order you to tell me what's wrong!"

The older man made a noise of sheer frustration, ripped his mask down, and slammed his lips against hers. The pinkette froze and for a moment Kakashi's mind reeled, helpfully providing a very long list of insecurities and doubts to explain the reaction, until her lips slowly started to move against his. Hesitantly at first, and then with a bruising force to match his own, until they were forced to separate for air.

"Oh," Sakura blinked, staring at his lips with a mixture of fascination and mild bewilderment.

He grunted in response, letting the implication sink in.

" _Oh_ ," she repeated.

He took her lack of violent reaction as an invitation to pull her into another kiss, this time slow and deliberate in his intentions. The kunoichi made a small noise in the back of her throat when he swept his tongue along her lower lip and Kakashi's chest rumbled in response.

Somewhere in between clutching the small of her waist to drag her further into him and shivering at the feeling of her nails scraping against his scalp, it occurred to Kakashi that they had an audience.

"Oh no, please don't stop on our account," Kotetsu drawled from a branch above them.

"And here I thought we had something special, Sakura-chan," pouted Genma.

Sakura (looking a little breathless to Kakashi's smug satisfaction) shot them both a warning look and unraveled herself from his grip.

"Shut it, you two. We've still got a few miles to go before we're in the clear, we need to get going," she huffed, smoothing her hair and avoiding eye contact with the involved party.

"Yes, ma'am," Kotetsu grinned.

Kakashi pulled his mask back into place and shot a snickering Genma a glare. If anyone asked, he would have completely denied that he was blushing.

* * *

"So...what does this make us?"

"It's gonna make _you_ dead in about ten seconds if you don't shut up, Shiranui," Sakura growled.

Kakashi seconded that notion.

"Was one night of passion all I was to you, Captain? I feel so used."

"I swear to god, Genma. Ten seconds."

"At least tell me the sex was good- ack!"

Kotetsu rolled his eyes as he dragged the senbon-chewing ANBU agent away by the collar, raising a hand in farewell.

"We'll meet again, my love!" Genma yelled as the pair rounded a corner, followed by the echoing sound of Kotetsu's palm meeting his head.

Sakura turned after a few beats of silence, and Kakashi rubbed sheepishly at the back of his neck, his thoughts becoming more disjointed by the second.

The prolonged quiet quickly became heavy, but it seemed his spiteful little student wasn't going to say anything to help the situation, and Kakashi was hard-pressed to vomit out the jumbled mess of feelings in his chest before it drove him quietly insane.

"Maa, Sakura, you know I'm not good at expressing things like this."

She put on an expression of practiced innocence.

"Like what?"

His only response was a doleful look, but apparently it was enough for her to take pity on him.

"It's alright, you don't have to say anything," she said, a sweet smile on her lips, "I understand."

Kakashi's heart did funny things in his chest at that, and he stepped forward to wrap his arms around her waist, flattening his palm against her lower back.

"You do?" He asked, feeling a bit uncertain and far too much like a nervous teenager for someone his age.

In lieu of responding, she reached up and hooked her thumbs underneath his mask. The material slid inch by inch down his face, and she let out a little breath when it pulled free of his lips and pooled under his chin. Her index finger brushed against the little freckle on the bottom corner of his mouth and she smiled, pressing a soft kiss against it before standing on her tiptoes to leave a lingering one on his lips.

He was quick to reciprocate, cradling her face with both hands and angling his head down to more fully move his lips against hers. Her fingers curled in his hair and combed through the mess, sending shivers down his spine, and he tightened his grip on her waist.

Kakashi let out out a quiet sigh of contentment when they finally pulled apart, feeling warm and flushed all over.

"Soo," Sakura hummed conversationally, eyes lidded and lips swollen, "no fish lips."

Kakashi chuckled, resting his forehead against hers.

"No fish lips," he agreed.

* * *

1\. Wooo! We're done!

2\. Sorry for the slight delay, I moved house and things got a little bit crazy.

3\. Of course Kakashi would somehow manage to confess without actually you know, confessing.

4\. Is everybody else as in love with Kakashi's lil chin freckle as I am?

5\. Thanks so much for all the really sweet reviews and support! I hope you guys enjoyed the ending.

6\. Feel free to review or message me with ideas or pairings you'd like me to write next, or check out my other, much longer akasaku/peinsaku story Hachimenreirou.


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